Getting In-line

COMMUNITY SPORTS

The Western Area Roller Hockey League Now Has A Regulation Rink To Accommodate Its Burgeoning Enrollment.

January 28, 1996|By LARRY GETLEN and Special to the Sun-Sentinel

The Western Area Roller Hockey league grew so fast that it had to stop promoting itself.

Limited to playing day games on Indian Trace Elementary School's lightless basketball courts, the 370-member league had no room left for expansion.

These problems became a thing of the past recently, as a regulation in-line roller hockey rink was officially unveiled at Tequesta Trace Park in Weston. According to league founder Mark Draizin, the rink couldn't have come at a better time.

"The sport is growing in leaps and bounds. We're expecting between 600 and 800 kids to register for the season that begins in April. We needed a lighted facility."

By hosting day and night games at the new rink in addition to scheduling games at Indian Trace when needed, the league can now accommodate the growing demand.

Western also plans to re-establish promotional efforts to draw new players.

"We stopped promoting and became more low key because of the facility problem," said Draizin. "Now we can send out more flyers and take out more ads in the local papers."

The new rink, with its 4-foot fiberglass boards, will make the games more enjoyable and realistic than they were with the 12-inch borders used to define the Indian Trace rink.

"The new rink will make the games feel faster for the kids," said Perry San, a Western coach who has three sons playing in the league. "They won't have to stop to chase balls that go over the borders."

The rink also provides a better setting for teaching hockey's rules, such as offsides rules that require well-defined lines, and strategies such as passing off the boards.

"We were only a wrist-shot league," said Draizin. "This will change the level of play."

Draizin saw the need for the rink early last year. Growing league attendance made it clear it would need lighted facilities, and Draizin was also concerned that the school would kick them off the basketball courts.

Draizin planned to organize a series of events, such as golf tournaments and raffles, to raise between $25,000-$30,000 for a wooden rink. John Hopwood, one of the league's coaches, is also manager of special projects for Weston developer Arvida, and campaigned to the developer to donate the money and resources for a rink.

"The league became so popular that we needed a place large enough to house lights," said Hopwood, whose 15-year-old son J.R. plays in the league. "Arvida had planned this for the future. We decided that if we were going to do it, we were going to do it the best we can."

Arvida recruited various contractors to donate time, labor, and materials, and agreed to provide most of the funding to build the rink out of higher-quality fiberglass instead of wood. They approved the construction last June, obtained county approval in August, and began building in September.

Broward County donated the Tequesta Trace Park site for the rink to give the league a home base.

"This will give the league more of an appeal, more permanence," said Greg Warner, parks and recreation manager at Tequesta Trace.

The rink is 68 feet wide by 166 feet long, shorter than the NHL regulation 85-by-200 due to space restrictions in Tequesta Trace. It was constructed with a California Sport Court surface, and conforms to the regulation standards of the In-Line Hockey Association.

While Draizin is delighted with the new rink, he is already thinking ahead to the next one.

"There is no doubt we will need another rink," said Draizin. "Even with this rink, we will still be restricted in what we can do for an adult league."

Western Area's adult league begins play for its first season in February. Tequesta Trace Park is located at 600 Indian Trace Road in Weston.